Ohio State's Etienne Sabino heads toward the end zone in the first quarter after teammate Michael Jenkins, right, had blocked a punt.

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At least Chris "Beanie" Wells had a note from his doctor yesterday. The rest of the Ohio State
offense had an unexcused absence.

Already suffering from a sore foot, Wells, the OSU tailback, shuffled and sniffled through the
week with a case of the flu. It was bad enough that he felt short of breath several times and was
forced to leave the game against Purdue.

"It was rough on me to be out there today," Wells said.

Apparently, it was contagious, because the rest of the offense looked seriously ill.

The Buckeyes won 16-3, thanks to a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown and a defense
that produced its best effort of the season.

It was a game hit with the ugly stick -- one about perseverance for 12th-ranked Ohio State,
which improved to 6-1 and 3-0 in the Big Ten.

"It's frustrating for us that we didn't click today," quarterback Terrelle Pryor said. "But the
bright side is we didn't lose. If we would've lost, it would've been just terrible. It's not
terrible."

Maybe not, but the offense has some issues. The Buckeyes gained only 222 yards against a
Boilermakers defense ranked 108th nationally (out of 119).

Coupled with a 35-3 loss to Southern California on Sept. 13, it marked the first time since 2003
that Ohio State has had two games in a season without scoring an offensive touchdown.

Since scoring on their opening drive last week at Wisconsin, the Buckeyes have just one
offensive TD in their past 21 possessions.

"Hit and miss" is how coach Jim Tressel described it. "There was a moment where you looked good
and there was a moment where you went backwards and we're not consistent at all."

Pryor suffered through another below-average game, accounting for just 124 total yards -- 27
rushing and 97 passing. Wells gutted out 94 yards on 22 carries.

About the only good news for the Buckeyes was they had no turnovers.

Tressel placed some of the blame on the offensive line, which allowed three sacks.

"There was no way to run the option, they were taking over the whole thing," Pryor said. "They
were all over the place when we were running."

The effort even surprised Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller, whose team fell to 2-4, 0-2 and
suffered its 17th straight loss to a ranked team.

"I didn't think we'd hold them out of the end zone," Tiller said. "I thought they were strong
enough physically, and with their speed on the outside, that they were going to score against us.
We were hoping they'd have one or two scores. To have none is pretty amazing."

It looked at first like it might be an OSU runaway. On Purdue's first possession, Ohio State
went after the punt. Malcolm Jenkins blocked it, and freshman linebacker Etienne Sabino scooped it
up and ran 20 yards for a touchdown.

"You come to a school like this so that you can have a chance to make a difference and make an
impact," Sabino said. "It's really great to be able to do that and hear all the fans after the
play."

They had few chances to cheer after that. The Buckeyes tacked on two field goals for a 13-0
halftime lead.

Purdue was one big play away from putting a serious scare into OSU. But senior quarterback
Curtis Painter was off target, completing just 23 of 51 passes (45.1 percent).

The secondary gave Boilermakers receivers little room to operate. Jenkins had an interception,
and the Buckeyes had eight passes defensed overall.